Modern English Biography (volume 1 of 4) A-H. Frederic Boase
R. B. 1862, 5 ed. 1871; Scripture history for the young 1845; Devotions for the sick room 1843; Companion for the sick room 1844; Thoughts during sickness, 4 ed. 1870 and 11 other books. d. Stoke Newington 3 Feb. 1874. Robert Brett. In memoriam reprints from the principal church journals including a sermon by Rev. J. W. Belcher 1874.
BRETT, William Freeland. b. 19 Oct. 1821; ensign 54 Foot 1 April 1842, major 14 Aug. 1857; major 61 Foot 27 Sep. 1861; lieut. col. brigade depot 26 Jany. 1876; M.G. 1 Oct. 1877; placed on retired list 1 July 1881. d. Colchester 10 Nov. 1884.
BRETT, Rev. William Henry. b. Dover; left Dover on his first journey to Demerara as missionary from S.P.G. 10 Feb. 1840; ordained deacon 1843 and priest 1844; chaplain to Bishop of Guiana and R. of Holy Trinity Essequibo 1851–79; author of The Indian tribes of Guiana 1852; Legends and myths of the aboriginal Indians of British Guiana 1880; Mission work among the Indian tribes in the forests of Guiana 1881. d. Bowruma, Totnes road, Paignton, Devon 10 Feb. 1886 aged 67.
BRETTELL, Rev. Jacob (only son of Rev. Jacob Brettell, Independent minister at Sutton-in-Ashfield, Notts who d. 19 March 1810). b. Sutton-in-Ashfield 16 April 1793; ed. at Manchester college York 1809–14; Unitarian minister at Cockey Moor (now called Ainsworth) Lancs. July 1814 and at Rotherham Sep. 1816 to June 1859; author of The country minister, a poem in 4 cantos 1821; The country minister part second, a poem in 3 cantos 1825; The country minister, a poem in 7 cantos with additional poems and notes 1827; contributed hundreds of hymns and political and patriotic pieces to Christian Reformer, Sheffield Iris, and other periodicals. d. Rotherham 12 Jany. 1862. Christian Reformer xviii, 128, 191 (1862).
BRETTLE, Robert. b. Portobello near Edinburgh 6 Dec. 1831; a glassblower in the hardware districts; fought B. Malpas for £50 a side 14 Feb. 1854 when stakes were drawn; fought Sam. Simmonds for £200 a side 3 June 1856, and Job Cobley for £100 a side 4 Aug. 1857 and beat them both; fought Bob Travers for £100 a side 26 Jany. 1858 when he won after 100 rounds in 2 hours; fought James Mace for £100 a side 21 Sep. 1858 when he won; fought Tom Sayers who staked £400 to Brettle’s £200, 20 Sep. 1859 when Sayers won; fought James Mace again 9 Sep. 1860 when Mace won; fought Jack Rooke for £200 a side 31 Dec. 1861, 1 Jany. 1862 and 11 March 1862 when stakes were drawn; kept the White Lion, Digbeth, Birmingham 1857 to about 1868 when he went to the United States; trained and brought out some of the best light-weight pugilists. d. 56 Upper Windsor st. Birmingham 7 April 1872. The championship of England by the editor of Bell’s Life in London [Francis Dowling] 1860 pp. 70–4; Illust. sporting news 1862 p. 9, portrait; H. D. Miles’s Pugilistica iii, 451–60 (1881).
BREWER, George. b. Gosport 7 Aug. 1773; entered navy 19 March 1793; joined the ‘Robust’ 15 Feb. 1795; discharged incurable 17 May 1799; a waterman at Gosport. d. in a court in Havant st. Portsea 7 Sep. 1871 aged 98 but generally reputed to be 106. Thoms’s Human longevity (1873) 185–6.
BREWER, Rev. John Sherren (eld. son of John Sherren Brewer of Eaton, Norwich, schoolmaster). b. 1810; ed. at Queen’s coll. Ox., B.A. 1833, M.A. 1835; chaplain of workhouse of St. Giles’s in the Fields and St. George’s Bloomsbury 17 Dec. 1837 to July 1845; lecturer in classical literature at King’s college London 1839–60, professor of English language and literature there 1855 and of English literature and modern history 1865–77; reader at the Rolls chapel Chancery lane 1857–62, and preacher 1862 to death; hon. fellow of Queen’s coll. Ox. Nov. 1870; head of Working mens’ college in Great Ormond st. 1872; R. of Toppesfield Essex 16 Sep. 1876 to death; edited the Standard for short time in 1860; edited Aristotle’s Ethics 1836; Book of the Church by R. Field 3 vols. 1843; Lectures to ladies on practical subjects 1855; and Letters and papers foreign and domestic of the reign of Henry viii, 4 vols. d. Toppesfield rectory 16 Feb. 1879. Rev. J. S. Brewer’s English Studies (1881) vii-xl.
BREWER, Thomas. b. 1807; entered office of Town Clerk of City of London 1823; secretary of City of London school 1837 to death; a founder of Sacred Harmonic Society 1832, secretary 1832–70, pres. Nov. 1870 to death; author of Memoir of John Carpenter, town clerk of London 1836, 2 ed. 1856; Memoir of Walter Scott, citizen and plaisterer of London privately printed 1858. d. City of London school, Milk st. London 25 Dec. 1870.
BREWER, William (brother of Rev. John Sherren Brewer). Ed. at Univ. of Edin., M.D., L.R.C.S. Edin. 1834; M.D. St. Andrew’s 1834; M.R.C.P. London 1841, F.R.C.P. 1872; M.P. for Colchester 18 Nov. 1868 to 26 Jany. 1874; member of Metropolitan Board of Works for St. George’s Hanover square 1870; chairman of Metropolitan Asylums Board; author of The family medical reference book 1840; Beatrice Sforza or the progress of truth 3 vols. 1863; translated A. Tavernier’s Treatise on the treatment of deformities of the spine 1842. d. 21 George st. Hanover sq. London 3 Nov. 1881.
BREWSTER, Abraham (eld. son of Wm. Bagenal Brewster of Ballinulta, co. Wicklow). b. Ballinulta April 1796; ed. at Kilkenny coll. and Univ. of Dublin, B.A. 1817, M.A. 1847; called to Irish bar 1819, went Leinster circuit; K.C. 13 July 1835, legal adviser to lord lieut. of Ireland 10 Oct. 1841; bencher of King’s Inns Dublin 1846; solicitor general for Ireland 2 Feb. 1846 to 16 July 1846; attorney general 10 Jany. 1853 to 10 Feb. 1855; P.C. Ireland Jany. 1853; lord justice of Court of Appeal in Ireland July 1866; lord chancellor of Ireland March 1867 to 17 Dec. 1868. d. 26 Merrion square south, Dublin 26 July 1874. Burke’s Lord Chancellors of Ireland (1879) 307–11; I.L.N. lxv, 115, 427 (1874).
BREWSTER, Sir David (2 son of James Brewster, rector of Jedburgh gr. sch. who d. 1815). b. Canongate, Jedburgh 10 or 11 Dec. 1781; ed. at Jedburgh gr. sch. and Univ. of Edin.; licensed by Presbytery of Edin. 1804; LLD. Aberdeen 1807, M.A. Cam. 1807; F.R.S. Edin. 1808, pres. 1864; F.R.S. 4 May 1815, Copley medallist 1815, Rumford medallist 1818, Royal medallist 6 times; founded Scottish Society of Arts 1821; invented polyzonal lens for lighthouses 1811, Kaleidoscope 1816 and lenticular stereoscope; procured establishment of British Association 1831; K.H. 1831; knighted at St. James’s Palace 8 March 1832 fees of £109 were never demanded from him; principal of Univ. of St. Andrew’s Jany. 1838 to Oct. 1859; a chevalier of Order of Merit 1847; one of the 8 foreign associates of French Institute 1849; president of Peace congress at Exeter hall London 22–24 July 1851; principal of Univ. of Edin. 28 Oct. 1859 to death; author of Treatise on the Microscope 1837, new ed. 1851; Lives of Galileo, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler 1841, new ed. 1874; More worlds than one 1854, new ed. 1874; History of the Stereoscope 1856 and many other books. d. Allerley near Melrose 10 Feb. 1868, centenary of his birth celebrated at Jedburgh 10 Dec. 1881. The home life of Sir D. Brewster by his daughter Mrs. Gordon 1869, portrait; Proc. of Royal Soc. xvii, 69–74 (1869); Min. of Proc. of Instit. of C.E. xxvi, 194–200 (1871); Grant’s Story of Univ. of Edin. ii, 274–8 (1884), portrait; Maclise Portrait Gallery (1883) 143–7, portrait; I.L.N. xvii, 121 (1850), portrait, lii, 189 (1868), portrait.
BREWSTER, Rev. Patrick (brother of the preceding). b. 20 Dec. 1788; licensed by Presbytery of Fordoun 26 March 1817; minister of Abbey church Paisley Aug. 1817 to death; ordained 10 April 1818; had but few equals as a preacher for elegance of style and purity of diction; took an active share in chartist agitation; author of An essay on passive obedience 1836; The rights of the poor of Scotland vindicated against the misrepresentations of the editor of the Glasgow Post and Reformer 2 parts; The seven Chartist and military discourses libelled by the Marquis of Abercorn and other heritors of the Abbey parish 1843. d. Craigie Linn near Paisley 26 March 1859, monument to his memory erected by public subscription in Paisley cemetery 1863. John Smith’s Our Scottish clergy, 2 series 1849, 162–6.
BREWSTER, William Bagenal. Educ. at St. John’s coll. Ox., B.A. 1846; rowed No. 4 in Oxford boat against Cambridge 1842 when Oxford gained her first victory on the Putney to Mortlake course; ensign 1 battalion Rifle brigade 7 July 1846, captain 29 Dec. 1854 to 1858 when he sold out; served in Kaffir war 1852–3; lieut. col. 23 Middlesex Volunteers (Inns of Court) 9 April 1860 to death. d. 75 Warwick sq. Belgrave road, London 7 July 1864 in 45 year. Saturday Review xviii,